History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 108

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314

USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 108

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The several bridges built across Dunlap's Creek, connecting Bridgeport and Brownsville, have been no- ticed in the history of the last-named borough.

STEAMBOAT AND KEEL-BOAT BUILDING.

In the extracts given in preceding pages from the journal of Robert Rogers it is narrated that about the year 1811 Daniel French came from Philadelphia to Bridgeport, "with big schemes of manufacturing, steamboat building, and navigating Western waters," and that some of the most influential and well-to-do citizens of Bridgeport, Brownsville, and the vicinity became so impressed with the apparent feasibility of his projects that they subscribed liberally to the stock of two companies which were formed, one for manu- facturing, and the other for the building and running of steamboats.

The latter company commenced operations without much delay, building two steamboats, the "Enter- prise" and the "Dispatch." The former was built under the superintendence of Israel Gregg, Henry M. Shreve,1 and Daniel French, on the bank of the river, above Dunlap's Creek, the ground on which Gregg built in the next year the warehouse which afterwards came into possession of the borough. The " Dis- patch" was built on the spot where the " Monument Mills" of Mason, Rogers & Co. now stand. The en- gines of both the "Enterprise" and " Dispatch" were built by Daniel French. The career of the former boat is thus mentioned in the journal of Mr. Rogers :

"In 1814 the largest of the two boats (the ‘ Enter- prise') was sent to New Orleans, with Henry M. Shreve as captain. She arrived there when Gen. Jackson's army was there, and was pressed into gov- ernment service to carry troops and stores, and con- tinued to do so till the close of the war. Then Shreve started with her for Pittsburgh with considerable money, but on the way up the boat was robbed (as he said) of all her money. She finally arrived at Pittsburgh, and the company got possession of her again. Then they employed Israel Gregg as captain. He ran her for a time, but made no money, though freight and passage was high. The company then chartered her to James Tomlinson, who put his son-

in-law, Daniel Worley, on her as captain, but he made no money, and let the boat sink (a short dis- tance below the Falls of the Ohio), so the company lost both the money and charter." The " Enterprise," of Bridgeport, was the first steamer that ever made the trip from Pittsburgh to New Orleans and return.

The company's other boat, the "Dispatch," is de- scribed by Mr. Rogers (who was employed on board of her in her first trip down the river) as follows: "Our engine was on the low-pressure principle, con- densing the steam, and the fires were made inside the boilers. We had two boilers, laid on the bottom of the boat. She was open hull, and was eighty feet keel and eleven feet beam. The water-wheel was only eight feet in diameter, and worked inside the boat, the rudders being aft of it. . .. I was second engineer, with Israel Gregg as captain." The boat started on her trip in December, 1815. Part of the load was taken on at Bridgeport, and this having been done, it was announced that she would take her departure the next morning; but no watchman was kept on board, and during the night the river fell, so that her bow grounded at the bank, and her stern sunk and filled with water, so that several days more elapsed before she could be raised and made ready again. This was finally accomplished, and she pro- ceeded down the river without further accident to Pittsburgh, where she remained a few days, and then went on down the Ohio.

At the mouth of Big Beaver the river was filled with floating ice, and a furious gale sprung up, which obliged Capt. Gregg to tie up to the shore, with the intention of remaining only till the next morning, but as the river fell rapidly during the night, he was compelled to stay there for about two weeks. At the end of that time the ice disappeared, the weather be- came good, and the " Dispatch" proceeded down the river, but "struck on the bar at Wheeling, on the island side, and having no niggers on board" [says Mr. Rogers] "we were compelled to jump into the river, full of floating ice as it was, and pay her off with rails." From there no accident occurred until the boat reached Walker's bar, below Cincinnati, and there she stuck fast and remained for two weeks be- fore the river rose sufficiently to float her off. Mr. Rogers proceeds: " At Louisville Capt. Gregg left the boat, leaving the engineer in command. I then became first engineer, and had to clerk, as well as act as steward, there being none on board." Passing from the Ohio into the Mississippi, the boat's company frequently saw Indians, who came down to the river- bank and sold them venison, For fear of these sav- ages they dared not run by night, but laid up, and employed the hours of darkness in cutting wood for the next day's fuel, as there was then no wood for sale along the river.

Thus the entire winter was passed on the river, and early in the spring of 1816 the " Dispatch" arrived at New Orleans. There she was boarded by Edward

1 A son of Col. Israel Shreve, who commanded a regiment of New Jersey troops in the Continental line in the war of the Revolution, and who, after the close of the war, emigrated from that State to Fayette County, Pa, locating in what is now the township of Perry, on lands purchased by him from Gen. Washington.

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BRIDGEPORT BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.

Livingston, United States marshal of that district, who notified the engineer in charge that he (Living- ston) and Robert Fulton had the exclusive right to navigate the waters of Louisiana with steamboats, and they would not permit that right to be infringed. But the master of the "Dispatch" pleaded igno- rance of that fact, and promised to leave Louisiana and not return, upon which he was permitted to depart with the boat without prosecution.

But it would appear that they did not live up to the agreement, for the journal says they "then took in freight and passengers, and started for Alexandria, at the rapids of the Red River," whence after dis- charging they started on the return trip to Pittsburgh. The boat was small and weak, and so made slow prog- ress against the current of the Mississippi, though some advantage was gained by her light draft of water, on which account she "could run close in shore and around the willow banks." Arriving at the Falls of the Ohio the water was found to be low, so that the boat was hauled by a slow and laborious process up the rapids close into the Kentucky shore.

" It was late in the summer," says the journal, " when we arrived at Pittsburgh, and our trip being so long in making that we did not save any money. I acted as clerk and first engineer on the trip from Louisville to New Orleans and back to Pittsburgh. On the whole route from New Orleans to Pittsburgh we were not passed by a steamboat, nor did we meet a boat on the Ohio. There were then in existence the following boats, 'New Orleans,' ' _Etna,' ' Vesu- vins,' and ' Buffalo,' on the Mississippi River. I do not remember seeing any on the Ohio." And in writing of a trip which he made two years later (1818) down the Monongahela and Ohio on a flat-boat, Mr. Rogers says, "I saw no steamboat from the time I left Brownsville till I reached Louisville."

In 1825, Robert Rogers, Cephas Gregg, Abram Kimber, and others built the steamboat "Reindeer." She was built in John Cock's boat-yard, a short dis- tance above where Mason Rogers & Co.'s flouring- mill now stauds, and was launched on Christmas- day in the year mentioned. Upon her completion she was placed under command of Capt. Abram Kimber, and ran for some years on the Ohio, between Pittsburgh and Louisville, Ky.

About 1826, Abel Coffin and Michael Miller com- menced the building of keel-boats in Bridgeport on an extended scale, and an almost incredible number of them were turned out by these builders. John Cock also built large numbers of them, and he as well as Coffin and Miller built some steamboats. In 1827, Mr. Cock built for James May, of Pittsburgh, the two Ohio River steamers, "Erie" and "Sham- rock." Coffin and Miller built the "Reindeer" (sec- ond of that name), the " Mountaineer," the "Cham- pion" (Capt. Thomas Sloan), and many others.

at the age of about seventy-five years, and who has been the builder of more boats than any other person on the Monongahela River) came to this place from the eastern part of the State in 1826. The first boat on which he worked here was the "Highlander," built by Robert Rogers, on a spot opposite the saw- mill on Water Street. John Herbertson also worked on the same vessel. In the early part of 1828, John S. Pringle built for Robert Rogers and Samuel Clarke a flat-bottomed boat called the " Visitor," which ran the following summer from Pittsburgh to Lonisville, and made a remarkable success, earning two thousand dollars more than her entire cost during that one season, and was then sold at two thousand dollars advance on her cost. The success of this boat caused the building of others of similar construction by Mr. Pringle. He established a boat-yard where Mrs. William Cock now lives. There he built a great number of steamers and other river craft, continuing in the business at that place till 1843, when he pur- chased trom Ephraim Blaine the site of his present yard in West Brownsville. It is stated that Mr. Prin- gle has built at his yards on both sides of the river more than five hundred steamboats, besides a great number of barges and other small craft. He has not unfrequently had three or four steamer hulls on the stocks at one and the same time. The largest boat ever built by him was the " Illinois," three hundred and eight feet long and seventy-two feet beam, which was floated down the river on high water to Pitts- burgh to receive her engines. Mr. Pringle built the first tow-boat on the river, the "Coal Hill," and afterwards built twenty-five more of the same model and construction.

MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS. THE OLD "BRIDGEPORT STEEL-WORKS."

In or about the year 1810 Morris Truman with his three sons,-Morris, Jr., Joseph, and James,-all Quakers, came from Philadelphia to Bridgeport, where they erected and put in operation works for the manufacture of steel, where James Aubrey now lives. They afterwards built also a machine and en- gine-shop where is now the brick house of Mr. Dougherty. The precise date of the starting of the steel-works is not known, but that they were in oper- ation in the early part of 1811 is shown by a com- munication found in the "Pittsburgh Magazine | Almanac" of that year, and of which the following is a copy :

" CROSS CREEK, July 1, 1811.

" MESSRS. PRINTERS :

" I have been accustomed to making various kinds of edge tools for forty years, and have no hesitation in pronouncing the steel made by Morris Truman & Co. equal to any imported or made elsewhere.

"J. MARSHALL."

In the same Almanac for the year 1813 it is men-

John S. Pringle (now living in West Brownsville . tioned that "the steel manufactory of Morris Tru-

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

man, which was started about eighteen months since, is doing well, and is capable of furnishing seventy tons of good steel annually." The steel-works were abandoned about the year 1825. From their machine- shop the Messrs. Truman turned out the engines of the "Reindeer," the "Mountaineer," and other steamers, and did an extensive business in that line. They were men of education and of great mechanical ability. Morris (Jr.) and Joseph Truman were bache- lors, James was a justice of the peace for some years, and all of the three brothers were at times members of the Borough Council. They died in Bridgeport, where many years of their lives were spent.

THE BRIDGEPORT GLASS-WORKS.

The old glass-works in Bridgeport were built and put in operation in 18111 by a joint-stock company, composed of John Troth, Heury Minehart, Isaac Van Hook, and their associates. The works embraced a main building about fifty-five feet square, and sev- eral smaller buildings near it, all located on the lots afterwards occupied by the distillery of John Hop- kins, and still later owned by Edward Toynbee.

The company and their successors continued the manufacture of glass with varying success till about 1840. The works were rented for some years by Benedict Kimber, who was very successful, accumu- lating a small fortune, which, however, he afterwards lost in the building of boats. After his failure he again ran the glass-works, but was not as successful as before, and finally the works ceased to be used for their original purpose. On the 4th of May, 1847, Samuel B. Page transferred to the borough " the four lots formerly held by the Bridgeport Glass-Works," for which he was released from all borough taxes for the period of ten years.

THE BRIDGEPORT MANUFACTURING COMPANY'S COTTON- FACTORY.

The formation of this company and the erection of its cotton-factory in Bridgeport nearly seventy years ago was promoted by the representations of Daniel French, who came here from Philadelphia about the year 1811, and advocated his industrial schemes with so much enthusiasm that the people were induced to subscribe liberally to enterprises for manufacturing and steamboating, as has been narrated on preced- ing pages in an extract from the journal of Robert Rogers.

The date of the commencement of work in the eree- tion of the cotton-factory has not been ascertained, but that it was before 1814 is shown by the following extract from the "Pittsburgh Magazine Almanac" for that year, referring to Bridgeport, viz .: ". .. There is also a large cotton-manufactory building, in which

they intend to use steam-power ;" and also from an advertisement by the company's manager, dated " Bridgeport, August 15, 1814," and found in a news- paper of that time. It announces to the public that "the factory is nearly ready to go into operation, which will be drove by steam, where we intend keep- ing a constant supply of cotton yarn of various de- scriptions, which we will sell at the most reduced prices. And. in addition to the above, we have two new wool-carding machines with first-rate cards, and having engaged an experienced carder, we hope, from our determined intentions to do our work with neat- ness and dispatch, and at the usual prices, to merit a share of the public patronage. (Signed) Enos Grove, Manager of the Company."

The factory building was of stone, about fifty by one hundred feet in ground dimensions, and four stories high. It was completed at about the time above iudicated, but for some reason which does not appear the company was not incorporated until 1816.

An act of the Legislature, approved February 8th in that year, incorporates "The Bridgeport Manu- facturing Company, ... for the purpose of manu- facturing cotton and woolen goods, and who have erected an establishment for that purpose in the Borough of Bridgeport, in Fayette County ;" the cap- ital stock not to exceed $200,000, in shares of $500 each. The corporators were John Krepps, James Tomlinson, Elisha D. Hunt, William Griffith, John McClure Hezlip, Morris Truman, and Enos Grave.

The factory had been started with great expecta- tions some time prior to the incorporation of the company. " And when they were ready," says Mr. Rogers' diary, " no one being experienced in run- ning factory or steamboats, neither enterprise made any money, but ran in debt, and the factory was sold by the sheriff." After being operated for a time by Mr. Grave for the company, it was run successively by James Meek, of Greene County, James Hutchin- son, Robert Burke, and others. After years of un- profitable attempts to run it for the purpose for which it was built it was abandoned as a cotton-factory, and then, after some years of disuse, it was occupied as a carriage-factory. Finally it was destroyed by fire, and so ended the cotton-factory enterprise of Bridge- port.

FRIENDSHIP PAPER-MILL.

A paper-mill, named as above hy its proprietors, Zephaniah Carter and Solomon G. Krepps, was built by them on Water Street, Bridgeport, and put in operation in 1832. Before the business had become firmly established Krepps died, and his interest in the mill was sold to Robert Clarke, whose advertisement, announcing the purchase, and the continuance of the business uuder the new proprietorship, also ex- pressing his regret that an enterprise which gave such good promise of success should have been checked so i soon after its commencement by the death of Mr.

1 The date is fixed by the following mention of the concern, found in the " Pittsburgh Magazine Almanac" for 1813, viz .: "The Bridgeport Glass Company got in motion in October, 1811, a glass-works for the making of all sorts of green gluss," etc.

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BRIDGEPORT BOROUGH AND TOWNSHIP.

Krepps, is found in the Washington Examiner, dated November, 1833. The paper-mill continued in oper- ation for a number of years, but finally the business was abandoned, and the building sold, in 1857, to Mason Rogers & Co., who converted it into a flouring- mill, which is still operated by them.

FOUNDRIES AND MACHINE-SHOPS.

The first machine-shop of Bridgeport was that of Daniel French, who (as has been already mentioned in an extract given from the journal of Robert Rogers) came from Philadelphia to the mouth of Dunlap's Creek about the year 1811. He was a man full of mechanical ideas, and a practical machinist. Mr. James L. Bowman, in an article written for and pub- lished in the American Pioneer in 1843, said, "The facility of obtaining iron and the abundance of bitu- minous coal for working it caused the establishment of various manufactories in this section. Among them we may name that of a steam-engine shop, under the direction of Daniel French, in Bridgeport, from which emanated an engine which was put on board the hull of the steamer 'Enterprise' in 1814." The engine of the " Dispatch," twin-boat with the " Enterprise," was built in the same shop. Mr. French was the in- ventor of the oscillating cylinder for engines. He left Bridgeport about 1820, and went to Jeffersonville, Ind., where his sons became extensive boat-builders, and where he was still living in 1872.

Between 1825 and 1830, John Krepps, and others associated with him, started a foundry where now is the residence of Thomas Cock. While run by them the foundry was under charge of William Cock as foreman. Afterwards he ran it on his own account ; then it was rented by him to Culbertson & Rowe, who carried it on for two or three years, and in 1835 it was rented by John Snowdon, who had taken the contract to furnish the castings for the iron bridge then about to be built across Dunlap's Creek. The metal was furnished by the government, and the castings were made in the old foundry by the contractor, Snowdon. This was the last casting done at these works.

The present fonndry and machine-shop business of Herbertson & Co. was started in 1838 by John Her- bertson and Thomas Faull, the former having been the superintendent of Snowdon's foundry when the castings were made for the Dunlap's Creek bridge. The mason-work of the Faull & Herbertson foundry was done by Thomas Butcher. In 1842 the partner- ship between Herbertson and Faull was dissolved, the former continning the business. The establish- ment was at first but a small one, but extensions and improvements have been made from time to time, and the manufacture of machinery has been added to the original foundry business, until the works have been brought to their present capacity. A specialty is now made in the manufacture of marine and sta-

tionary engines. The present firm of Herbertson & Co. is composed of John llerbertson, G. S. Herbert- son, W. H. Herbertson (the latter two sons of John Herbertson), W. H. Ammon, and A. C. Cock.

Faull's foundry, located between Water Street and the river, and above the Monument Mills, was started by Thomas Faull soon after he retired from the part- nership with John Herbertson. His son now carries on the business.

THE MONUMENT MILLS.

These mills are situated on Water Street, Bridge- port, on the eastern bank of the Monongahela River. The building was erected in the year 1832 by Zepha- niah Carter and Solomon G. Krepps, and by them and others operated as a paper-mill for a number of years. In 1857 it was purchased by Mason Rogers & Co., and converted into a merchant flouring- and grist-mill, and it is still running on that work. The motive-power of the mill is a forty horse-power steam- engine, which drives three run of stones. The mill has a capacity of about forty barrels of flour per day.

PROSPECT MILLS.

These flouring-mills, owned and operated by W. H. Miller, are located on Dunlap's Creek, about three-fourths of a mile above and outside of the borough limits, yet they properly belong with the manufacturing industries of Bridgeport. The Pros- peet Mills are on or very near the site of the ancient grist-mill built by Rees Cadwallader before the com- mencement of the present century. After Cadwalla- der, the property passed to other hands, and was at one time owned by Rogers & Truman, by whom it was sold to William Miller. The old dam, originally built by Cadwallader, was used for the later mills until within a few years, when a new one was built by Mr. Miller, father of the present proprietor of the mills.

VALLEY MILLS.

The flouring- and grist-mills known by the above name are located on Dunlap's Creek, a short dis- tance below and within the borough line, and were built in 1834 by Samuel G. Krepps, who operated them for many years. Subsequently the property passed through several hands, and in 1867 was purchased by Eli Leonard, wbo ran the mills for about ten years. They are now owned and operated by Snyder & Crispin.

SAW-MILLS.

The saw-mill of Harvey Leonard is on Dunlap's Creek, at the point where the borough line strikes that stream, a short distance above the Valley Mills, and at or very near the spot where Jonah Cadwalla- der's saw-mill stood in 1814 (the descriptions of the lines of the boroughs of Bridgeport and Brownsville, erected in that year, making "Jonah Cadwallader's mill-dam" a point of departure from Dunlap's Creek). The water which is used to propel both Leonard's

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

saw-mill and Valley Mills, below it, is still taken from the creek at the place where Cadwallader erected his mill-dam seventy years ago.

The saw-mill and planing-mill of Gibbons, Wood & Crumlow, situated on Water Street and Cherry Alley, is one (and by no means the least important) of the industrial establishments of Bridgeport.

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION IN BRIDGEPORT.1

Dr. Jesse Pennel was born of Quaker parents in Philadelphia, Sept. 5, 1772. He received a liberal education, afterwards studying medicine and attend- ing lectures in the Medical Department of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. A certificate, of which the following is a correct copy, is still possessed by his daughter, Miss Susan Penne), of Pittsburgh :

" This is to certify that Jesse Pennel hath attended a course of my lectures on the Institutes of Medicine, and on Clinical Cases, with diligence and punctuality.

" BENJN. RUSH, M.D.,

" Professor of the above branches of Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania.

" PHILADELPHIA, 24th February, 1792."

Dr. Pennel was married to Miss Hannah Grubb, of Winchester, Va., at which place the two resided for one year, when they moved to Bridgeport in 1795, where he practiced his profession the remainder of his life. On the 5th of February, 1819, Dr. Pennel died of typhus fever, which at the time was epidemic in the county. He was a consistent member of the Society of Friends up to the time of his death, as was also his wife. Miss Susan Pennel, his daughter, and Mrs. John A. Murphy, a granddaughter, both residents of Pittsburgh, Pa., are his only surviving descendants.

Dr. Henry William Stoy was born in Lebanon, Pa., Sept. 7, 1784. He was the son of Dr. Henry Wilhelm Stoy, a native of Germany, who emigrated thence to Lebanon County, Pa., some years previous to the birth of his son. There he practiced medicine and officiated as minister of the gospel for a consid- erable time. Dr. Stoy was educated in Lancaster, Pa., and studied medicine with Prof. Baker, of Lan- caster. He came to Bridgeport in 1817, where he engaged in the practice of his profession, remaining until 1822, at which time he went to Greensburg, Westmoreland Co., but in 1832 returned to Bridge- port, where he continued to follow his profession until 1852, when he removed to Shinston, Harrison Co., Va., and died there Feb. 2, 1858. He continued in active practice up to within three months of his death. Dr. Stoy was twice married,-in 1814 to Katharine E. Cook, who died in 1824, leaving five children ; in 1826 he was married to Eleanor M. Watt, who died in 1852, leaving also five children. While in Bridgeport he enjoyed the esteem and confidence of the community, and maintained an extensive prac-

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 108

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1314

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314